Electric lock



W. WAGNER Jan. 11, 1938.

ELECTRIC LOCK Filed Feb. 20, 1957 m nm ll llllll lllllll A lNvENToR William Wagner WITNESSES ATTORNES Patented Jan.-11, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ELECTRIC LOCK William Wagner, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor of gne-lifth to Clementine De Gluli, Brooklyn,

Application February 20, 1937,` Serial No. 126,739

s claims. (ci. zoo- 44) This invention relates to electric locks, and has correctly position the tumblers I in order that for an object to provide an improved constructhe cylinder 2 may rotate. It will be observed tion which may be used in connection with variparticularly from Fig. 2 that the key l0 is made ous other objects to either throw a bolt for lockof insulating material and is provided with a pair 5 ing purposes or for properly connecting electrical of contact blocks Il and I2 which are connected 5 circuits. by a suitable conductor I3. This conductor may Another object of the invention is to provide an be wire, metal plate, or other member. electric lock wherein an insulated key is used in The cylinder 2 carries a pair of contact pins Il connection with a cylinder for properly shifting and I5 made of metal and positioned to slide in l0 the cylinder to secure a desired connection of two an insulating sleeve provided with shoulders 3| l0 or more electric wires without producing a short and 32. These shoulders coacting with the heads circuit. 21 and 29 limit the inward movement of the re- A further object, more specically, is to provide spective pins. Springs 28 and 30 act on the rean electric lock structure to be used in the igni- Spective heads 21 and 29 and on the respective 5 tion system of automobiles wherein either an inpins I4 and l5' so as to urge the pins i4 and l5 l5 sulated key is used or a key covered with insuinwardly. Pins i4' and I5 are mounted rigid or lating matter, with the parts so constructed that immovable in the insulation, but have their outer the key will actuate the usual tumblers to permit vends positioned to cooperate in the respective the cylinder of the lock to rotate and at the same slots I'l and I8 with the contacts I9 and 20. Congg timetoprovide a suitable switch connection. tact I9 is comparatively short, while preferably g() In the accompanying drawing: contact 20 is suiliciently long to remain in en- Fig. 1 is a side view of a lock disclosing an emgagement with pin Il at all times although this bodiment of the invention; is not essential.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view through Fig. l approx- When the parts are in the position shown in 2'. imately on the line 2-2; Figs. 1 and 4, the circuit is broken, but when the g5 Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view through Fig. cylinder 2 has been rotated until the pin i5 is in 1 approximately on the line 3 3; engagement with the insulated contact I9, the Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view through circuit will be closed through the conductors 2| Fig. 1 approximately on the line 4-4; and 22. These conductors form part of the igni- Fig. 5 is a side view of the key illustrated in tion circuit and usually in one of these circuits 30 Fig. 2; is arranged a fuse so that in case anyone places Fig. 6 is a longitudinal, horizontal, sectional a metal key into the key slot 8, the ignition cirview through a modied form of a key to that cuit will be short circuited and the fuse will be shown in Fig. 5. 't blown. $5 Referring to the accompanying drawing by` nu- Instead of having a key made from Bakelite, 35

meralsl indicates a casing having the usual cylfiber, or other insulating material, it khas been inder 2. As shown in Fig. 2, there is arear plate found that a metal key 23 may be used and 3 secured to the rear end of the cylinder 2 by formed with projections 24 and 25. The key 22 screw l. However, if desired, this plate could is completely covered by enamel or other insu- 13 be eliminated or an opening provided therein lating material 26, except the contact faces of pro- 40 through which part or all of the cylinder 2 could jections 24 and 25 which engage the pins I4 and project so as to be connected by a crank or other l5 when the key is in use. The general shape of means to a bolt for throwing the same. Howthe cylinder 2, the arrangement of the tumblers ever, as shown in the drawing, the device is es- 5 and 1 and associated parts are all old and well 47 pecially adapted for an ignition lock for automoknown, but the remaining parts have been added 45 biles. The same structure could be used in conto secure the results specified. nection with safes or other devices without de- When the parts are in the position shown in parting from the spirit of the invention. Fig. 4, if a metal key was inserted and the cyl- As shown in the accompanying drawing, Athe inder turned until the pin l5' engaged contact lock is provided with the usual tumblers 5 in the I9, the wires of the circuit would be immediate- 50 casing which are urged toward the cylinder 2 by ly grounded on the casing l, which is naturally the springs 6. In the cylinder 2 are arranged the grounded on the automobile or on any other deusual cylinder tumblers l that are adapted to vice to which the lock is connected. The comextend into the key slot or keyway 8, whereby bination of the various cams 9 of the key in conthe various cam portions Soi the key l0 may nection with the tumblers may be varied in the 55 usual way well known to manufacturers of locks of this kind. In addition, the distance between the locks Ii and I2 may be changed, and when this is done the distance between the pins i4 and II must be changed. By making locks in these diiferent ways a larger combination with diierent keys would be produced so that the liability of producing duplicate keys would be greatly reduced or eliminated.

I claim:

1. A lock of the character described including a casing, cylinder and tumblers, a pair of spaced pins carried by the cylinder but insulated therefrom, said pins extending into the keyway of the cylinder and to a position beyond the periphery of the cylinder, an insulated contact continually engaging one of said pins, an insulated contact positioned in theV path of movement of the other of said pins, and a key of insulating material formed with a pair of electrically connected contacts adapted to engage one end of the respective pins carried by the cylinder when the key has been inserted sumciently to rotate the cylinder.

2. In a lock of the character described, a metal cylinder, a casing around the metal cylinder, said casing and said cylinder having coacting tumblers, said cylinder also having a keyway, a pair of contact pins insulated from the cylinder and extending from a point beyond the periphery to a point within said keyway, a resilient contact engaging one of said pins continually, a resilient contact spaced normally from the other contact, and a key having cam portions capable of adjusting said tumblers so that the cylinder may rotate, and a pair ot connected contacts adapted to be brought into contact with said pins when the key has been forced into said keyway sufilciently to cause said tumblers to be moved to such positions that the cylinder may be rotated by the key. I

3. In a standard cylinder lock, a cylinder provided with a keyway and a pair of pins extending from the keyway radially to a point beyond the periphery of the cylinder, said lock having a casing provided with a pair of slots into which said pins project, a contact member insulated from the casing and also from the cylinder, said contact being arc-shaped and continually in contact with one of said pins, a similar contact member for the other of said pins, said last mentioned contact being much shorter than the irst mentioned contact and normally out of contact with its pin, and a key for turning said cylinder and said pins so that the respective pins will be in engagement with the respective contacts, said key being provided with means for properly shitting the tumblers in the lock, and a pair of connected spaced contacts positioned to engage the inner end of the respective pins for electrically connecting the same.

4. In a lock of the character described, a key formed of insulating material having embedded therein a conductor and a contact block at each end of said conductor, and a coacting lock provided with a cylinder having a pair oi' insulated radially extending pins adapted to engage said blocks when the key is in operative position, and a Contact for each of said pins, one of said contacts being in continuous engagement with one Aof said pins and the other contact being engaged by the other pin only when the cylinder has been turned to an unlocked position.

5. In a lock of the character described, a casing, a cylinder, a key adapted to be inserted into the cylinder, said key having a pair oi' spaced electrically connected blocks, sliding means for connecting one of said blocks with a conductor. and a contact positioned in the path of movement of the other pin for electrically connecting the other pin with a second conductor.

WILLIAM WAGNER.. 

